Bisphenol based monomers are widely used precursors in the production of polycarbonate materials. Development of alternatives to existing polycarbonates, polyesters and polyestercarbonates that maintain properties (high transparency and good melt stability) of the corresponding polymers are of great interest in the plastics industry and for the manufacturing industry. To achieve this, a suitable monomer for polymerization reactions is necessary to produce a polymer with the necessary properties.
Further, monomers or oligomers used in making the polycarbonate materials may not proceed to completion in some instances, thus leading to the presence of unreacted residual monomers or oligomers in the polymeric material. Additionally, when subjected to certain conditions, the polymeric materials can undergo degradation reactions, such as hydrolytic or thermolytic degradation, resulting in the formation of hydrolysis and/or thermolysis degradants or reaction products. In some aspects, the resulting degradants can correspond chemically to the monomeric starting materials initially used to manufacture polymeric materials. The presence of residual monomers, either as residues of polymerization or through degradation by thermal or hydrolytic means, is an area of growing regulatory concern.
This concern has led to extensive research to find suitable alternative monomers for polycarbonate materials whose residual monomers or degradation products exhibit desirable characteristics. Desirable characteristics of such degradants include, among other, extremely low, or even no estradiol related receptor (ERR) binding activity.
Accordingly, there is a need for polymeric materials which, if having or generating residual monomers, comprise such monomers that have very low, or nondetectable, biological activity, for instance having extremely low or no binding activity compared to estradiol in the estradiol related receptors (ERR) e.g., ERR-α and/or ERR-β.